Kids, hunting, and politics

[LWolf]

I teach middle school. In a rural area. Many of my students are hunters. Many of them request independent study for hunting season.

They talk about their hunts. They also write about them. I read many essays about hunting experiences every year.

Political discussions are kept to a minimum in the classroom. We do current events, and discuss them, and sometimes that spills over into politics. I generally avoid political subjects. When political questions or subjects come up, I do my best to be completely neutral. It's sometimes really hard. When a student asks me if I like George Bush, which happens quite regularly, I reply, "no comment."

They all want my political opinions. My political opinions don't belong in the classroom, and I like my job, so I use "no comment" when they ask me for an opinion.

So the office of vice-president came up when we were discussing the separation of powers and the roles of different offices.

One of my 6th graders said, "I don't even know who our vice president is." I looked around the room; they were all nodding. I said, "It's Dick Cheney."

Being 6th graders, they tittered and snorted because I said "Dick."

Somebody said, "I've never heard of him. We never see articles about him when we're doing current events."

I'm struggling to find something neutral to say about Dick Cheney. I lost that struggle. I finally said, "He was in the news a couple of years ago when he shot his friend on a bird hunting trip." I probably should have said something about undisclosed locations, or health issues.

The class exploded. It took half an hour to get it out of their system. The gist? "Our vice president is so stupid he doesn't know basic hunter safety????"

I already knew that most despise GWB. It is amazing to me that even many in rural, gun-happy America can't stand him. I'm sure some of these families will still vote Republican. I'm hoping, though, that we could possibly, on the wave of strong anti-bush sentiment, replace our republican congressman, who has been, up to this point, "safe."

[VWolf]

1. You did well

You managed to find the one piece of indisputable factual information that would resonate with your students

Love your username, BTW :hi:

[LWolf]

7. Welcome to DU.

Always good to have another wolf around. ;)

[happyslug]

2. The the 1920s there was a play with the VP as a side character.

The VP was a side character in the play, he was going around trying to get two people to sign his application for a Library Card that he had "Gainful Employment". Never did get the first signature let alone the Second.

FDR's First Vice President (VP) called the Vice Presidency "Not Worth a Bucket of Spit".

When the Vice President's office is discussed in Political reform movements, the tendency is to abolish the position as it now exists, and replace it with the Speaker of the House, followed by the President Pro Temp of the Senate. These are already the Third and Fourth in line for the Presidency if the office is vacate. Before the 1940s the Second in line was the Secretary of State, but when Truman was President Politicians of both parties thought it was improper for a person who has NEVER run for any office be President, so it was changed to the Speaker of the House. Subsequently the Constitution was amended so whoever is President can name a new Vice President (Who must be confirmed by the Senate AND the House) but that was NOT part of the Constitution till the 1960s (Truman was President 1945-1953). The 1960s amendment as to the Vice Presidency Nixon's Vice President resigned first, do to an unrelated to Watergate bribery scandal. Nixon appointed Ford as his Vice President. When Nixon had to resign do to Watergate, Ford Picked Nelson Rockefeller (Through when Ford ran in 1976 he dropped Rockefeller for Dole do to internal GOP politics).

Thus the trivial, Name the President NOT elected by the Electoral Collage? That is Gerald Ford, for the Electoral Collage elects not only the President but the Vice President. Gerald Ford LOST the 1976 election and had NOT been on the ticket in 1972, thus NEVER elected by the Electoral Collage for President OR Vice President.

[Breeze54]

3. Why not make the office of VP and Cheney a 'research' assignment?

;)

[FirstLight]

4. And give them a list of keywords to use in their research?

Halliburton
KBR

for starters....hmmm what else?

[Breeze54]

5. Keywords:

Keywords: 9-11; NSA; bush; USA; capitalism; cheney; detainees; elections; halliburton; immigration; islam; israel; mexico; oil; palestine; death penalty; drug companies; environment; scotus; washington; energy; PNAC; war; liar; sneer; gay marriage; lawyer; war crimes; terrorists; big white mushroom cloud, WMD's; Saddam; Osama bin Laden; Iraq, elections, Ohio; money; filthy rich; tax cuts; heart;

[FirstLight]

6. YEAH!

thanks, breeze...haven't had enuf coffee today!


side story- I remember being in high school when Reagan was threatening russia with nukes..and our assignment was to write and esay about how we would avert nuclear war. I said the leaders needed to sit down and talk like real people (and getting stoned wouldnt' hurt..lol)

ahhh, the naivete of youth, eh?

[LWolf]

8. We might just do that next fall.

I know that we have a green light, as of a meeting last week, to spend more time focusing on U.S. government. It was a fight; the big push is to increase time spent on math and reading to boost test scores.

That's fine, except that when you increase time on one thing in a finite day, you decrease time on other things.

There's only a couple of weeks of school left, but we're talking about kicking off a focus on government and elections in the fall.